This Creative Conversation is geared towards empowering emerging leaders to think outside the box and take their careers into their own hands. Moderated by Monique Martin (Director of Family Programming, CityParks Foundation/SummerStage), this panel discussion will feature Risë Wilson (Founder of The Laundromat Project), Meghan Stabile (President/CEO of Revive Music Group), Kaisha Johnson (Co-Founder of Women of Color in the Arts) and Adam Schatz (Founder of Search and Restore), four outstanding arts professionals who have successfully created their own paths and advanced the field along the way. We will delve into how the panelists got started, the inspiration behind their projects and the opportunities and challenges that they have faced along the way. Join us for a unique opportunity to learn from their journeys and begin charting your own course.
Please note: This Creative Conversation is a moderated panel discussion followed by a 20-minute break out session in which you will have the opportunity to sit down in a small group with a panelist of your choice for a more intimate conversation. Please be sure to designate the panelist that you would like to sit with during the break out session in your RSVP. ** Please see panelist bios below.
Date: Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Time: 7:00pm-8:30pm. * Reception to follow at 8:30pm.
Location: Harlem School of the Arts
645 Saint Nicholas Avenue at 141st Street, NY, NY 10030
Please RSVP here: bit.ly/rBdwLl
Curated by Simone Eccleston, ELNYA Fellow
Presented in collaboration with They’ve Got Next and Harlem School of the Arts
About They’ve Got Next
Founded by Simone Eccleston, They’ve Got Next is a new online platform designed for young professionals who are taking arts and culture to the next level. Through multimedia features and interviews, it seeks to acknowledge, promote and celebrate excellence, innovation and vision amongst young artistic and administrative professionals in the field; as well as build community both intra- and inter-generationally.
About Harlem School of the Arts
For nearly a half-century, The Harlem School of the Arts (HSA) has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of young people ages 4-18 through world-class training in the arts. HSA stands unique among community arts institutions in New York City, as the sole provider of arts education in four disciplines (music, dance, theater and visual arts) under one roof-our award-winning 37,000 square foot facility. HSA’s mission empowers young people mainly from under-served communities in Harlem to find and develop the artist and citizen within themselves. Our environment teaches discipline, stimulates creativity, builds self-confidence and adds a dimension of beauty to our students’ lives. HSA boasts an impressive alumni base of Tony-award winning actors, celebrated operatic voices and jazz musicians, visual artists and dancers, and individuals who cite HSA as the platform from which they launched careers in law, business and other professional fields. The School’s reputation for artistic rigor and excellence attracts constituents from all five New York City boroughs, Westchester County and New Jersey. We are especially proud to be among the pioneering cultural institutions that have been instrumental in Harlem’s rebirth.
Moderator:
Monique Martin
Director of Family Programming, CityParks Foundation/SummerStage
Monique Martin joined CityParks Foundation (CPF) in 2007; CPF produces SummerStage in Central Park and over 1,200 music, dance, theater and kids programs in 700 parks city wide every summer. As Director of Family Programming she brings her vision and expertise in presenting relevant, fresh and thoughtful programming for youth to New York City families. Prior to joining CPF she was an Associate Director of Programming for LMCC as part of the River to River Festival where she presented music, dance and family programs. As an independent curator, producer and marketing consultant she has partnered with and produced for Joe’s Pub, Disney, Apollo Theater, New Victory Theater, South Bank Centre/UK, Hip Hop Theater Festival, Harlem Stage, Queens Theater in the Park, NJPAC, HBO and various Broadway productions.
Panelists (please pick one in your RSVP):
Kaisha S. Johnson
Co-Founder, Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA)
As a staunch advocate for diversity on and off the stage, Kaisha S. Johnson co-founded Women of Color in the Arts, a service organization dedicated to promoting diversity in the performing arts field, by creating professional opportunities for arts administrators. Johnson is currently the Director of Touring at the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD). In this capacity, she introduces audiences to cultural traditions from around the world and helps affirm the value of cultural diversity as an essential component of our national identity. With a commitment to facilitating diverse programming, Kaisha serves as an arts consultant providing assistance to artists and non-profits in the form of tour management, program development, marketing and fundraising. She designs and implements integrated programs for the arts, while researching and soliciting funding from private, government and corporate foundations. Ms. Johnson currently serves as a lecturer at the City University of New York (CUNY) in the Non-Profit Management Certificate Program, teaching courses in grant writing, fundraising and marketing. She is also the director of ¡Africanisimo!, a unique project that showcases the performing arts from throughout The African Diaspora with a focus on The Americas, highlighting the evolution of traditions outside of the African continent.
http://www.womenofcolorinthearts.org/
Adam Schatz
Founder, Search and Restore
Adam Schatz founded Search & Restore in late 2007. It has since grown into a non-profit organization, committed to bringing the artists and audiences of new jazz and improvised music together in new ways. Since 2008, Search and Restore has presented over 50 shows, including such notable events as a multi-floor, final night of jazz in the legendary Manhattan Knitting Factory, the first NYC performance in 3 years by the acclaimed band Alas No Axis, The Winter Jazzfest, and an unprecedented four-night NYC residency for Kneebody, and the Undead Jazzfest. In December 2010, Search and Restore successfully raised over $76,000 through Kickstarter to embark on a year-long video documentation of the NYC jazz scene and expand the SearchAndRestore.com website to serve as a flagship home for the new jazz community. Search and Restore is currently in the midst of its Jazz2012.com campaign, which seeks to raise $200,000 for its 2012 operations.
Meghan Stabile
President/CEO, Revive Music Group
Meghan Stabile is one of the greatest visionaries and music trailblazers of our generation. An alumnus of Berklee College of Music, Stabile began producing a series of events under the pseudonym of Revive Da Live, marrying the essence of improvisation and authentic expression of both jazz and hip-hop music in a completely new way. Stabile’s most resonating recent work was the Roy Ayers Tribute, featuring The Robert Glasper Experiment, Stefon Harris, and Pete Rock, which has toured internationally. Her work as President/CEO of Revive Music Group has spawned a new creative culture of live music productions; her consulting business has increased musician advocacy, and her co-ownership of The Revivalist has redefined music journalism.
http://revivalist.okayplayer.com/
Risë Wilson
Founder, The Laundromat Project, Inc.
Risë Wilson is the Program Manager for Leveraging Investment in Creativity’s Space for Change program, which aids arts organizations and community leaders in imagining and planning for a 21st century art space. Risë is also the Founder of The Laundromat Project (The LP), an emerging social enterprise that mounts public art projects in neighborhood laundromats as a way of increasing the quality of life in communities of color living on low incomes. The long term vision for the organization is to build an art center attached to a laundromat that it owns and operates. After conceiving the idea for The LP in 1999, Risë focused both her academic and professional careers on bringing the organization to fruition. In addition to graduate work at NYU, Risë pursued a practical education in non-profit arts management by holding positions in both large-scale and grassroots cultural institutions such as the MoMA, ICP, the Painted Bride, and Art Sanctuary. Her work has earned national recognition; she was a 2004 Echoing Green fellow and a 2008 Douglas Redd fellow in art and community development. Risë’s BA is in African-American Studies from Columbia University where she was a Kluge Scholar, and her MA is in Africana Studies from NYU where she was a MacCracken Fellow. She is former faculty at Parsons, the New School for Design, where she helped product design students apply their creative talents to the public sphere, and is currently in the process of launching a coaching and consultant practice to help organizations and individuals “focus on purpose.”
